Desktop Is Black After Booting Windows 8

Jul 15, 2013

I've got Windows 8 64 bit and I'm running it on a Gigabyte U2242 ultrabook on the max resolution 1 Yesterday, after booting up, I saw that the desktop is black, the icons are black/ invisible too, I can, however, see the taskbar.

On the other hand, the tile menu works just as intended.

The laptop has two video cards: Intel HD 4000 and a Geforce 650M, I've uninstalled the drivers for both under safe mode and reinstalled the latest ones.

I've read somewhere on the nvidia forums that the geforce driver can't be removed because v.304 comes with Windows 8. Is this true?

3 days ago i turned of my computer and left it turned of over the night. Then when i tried to turn it back on again, i get the windows 8/8.1 boot logo, then when it dissapears i just get a black screen, however, i get the windows tone after a while indicating that the system is running, and that the only problem is that the screen is not displaying anything.

I have tried booting in safe-mode, that worked. But no matter what i changed (start-up programs and resolution) nothing worked. I have tried connecting another screen to my laptop, but that screen also displays the black color.

I should perhaps mention that my laptop originally came with Windows 7, but i upgraded it to Windows 8, and later on 8.1.

I had to reinstall the whole machine from scratch because old HDD has been playing up. This is what I did:

1. Imaged old (faulty) drive to new one - just because I needed some data out of it and the old one was very slow and freezing.2. run the system with new imaged drive - all working except sometimes it was playing up, so I decided to upgrade to another drive with Windows 8.1 from Win73. have plugged in new HDD to SATA0 port and the imaged drive to port SATA24. installed Windows 8.1, copied data over, reinstalled applications and so on.5. all working perfectly. Now every time I boot up the machine, I'm offered options if I want to boot to Windows 8.1 or Win7. No problem there.6. Now I wanted to remove the imaged HDD from SATA2 port, so I did - and here comes the problem:

All I get now is the black screen with flashing cursor in top left corner. How is this possible ? When I plug the second drive in all works as before. I just have to remove the second drive. How can I do this? In the attached image you can see my drives from Windows 8.1 the Disk0 is the one I need to keep - that's a Windows 8.1 ( C: ) Disk1 (imaged HDD) is the one with Win7 on it and needs to be removed.

Prior to this issue I had not installed anything all week nor made any updates, etc. I boot up windows as always and noticed that upon logging in, my lock screen took a while longer to bring me to my desktop. Now my desktop is completely black and my taskbar icons are gone. Opening firefox or any other program through the start menu does NOT make them show up on the taskbar as they always would. My desktop's pretty much disabled. Here's a screenshot.

I would be fine resetting to factory settings, however when it says my computer must restart to enter recovery mode, my computer in the middle of the restart gives me a light blue screen that says Windows encountered a problem and my system must restart. That is cancelling my recovery mode boot and sending me back to my black desktop.

It happened after my computer froze and I had to press the restart button manually. To be honest my desktop is loading up slower too. My desktop doesn't have a black wallpaper, it's original and blue hence why I am confused.

So I rebooted my computer after a crash, and after logging in the screens were completely black and my mouse & keyboard was unresponsive. I did Crtl + Alt + Del which brought up the correct menu, and after I exited it I was put onto the start menu, which was blank. Just like the login screen and lock screen, the colour and design had been reset (to purple, if it matters). Leaving the start menu presents me with the black desktop again, but the start bar at the bottom is present and after a while the clock, wifi, volume etc. loads in the bottom right as well as a User Profile Service notification telling me I've been "signed in with the default profile for the system". There are no pinned apps either, although FileZilla Server loads up after a minute and that is on the start bar now. Also, immediately after leaving the start menu, a "Location is not available" dialogue box comes up with the error message:

C:Windowssystem32configsystemprofileDesktop refers to a location that is unavailable. It could be on a hard drive on this computer or on a network. Check to make sure that the disk is properly inserted, or that you are connected to the Internet or your network, then try again. If it still cannot be located, the information might have been moved to a different location.

When I click OK on that, the Recycle Bin appears on my desktop. Opening the recycle bin displays the same message as before, and it does have all of the recycled files and folders inside. From here I can navigate through my folders, although the libraries option on the left side is empty (it normally has my documents, videos, user folder etc.). If I navigate to D:UsersAdministrator, my desktop folder is there with everything inside. I can also type Google (or presumably anything after http://) into the explorer bar which opens up Google Chrome, as well as open cmd and Control Panel by typing each one in. Navigating to C:Windowssystem32configsystemprofile shows that Desktop isn't actually present any more.

I've tried using both elevated cmd (net user /add Username) and control panel to create a new user, but the control panel button "Add or remove user accounts" button is unresponsive, and although cmd gives me a successful operation message (and tells me the account already exists if I do the same command again), it doesn't show up on the logon screen. I've tried making the user through cmd while logged in to administrator, using the Advanced Startup Options command prompt (the one that uses X:) and using safe mode with command prompt. The right-corner-menu > Settings > Change PC Settings button is unresponsive. I can't use the built-in administrator account because after I similar occurrence before, I've been using the built-in admin, which is the one that is now broken. None of my older accounts show up, either.

Also, after a few restarts and many attempted fixes (mainly automatic repair etc.), it now plays the whole patronising "We're getting your PC ready" video whenever I try to log in, and then it displays the start menu and bar (so I don't need to do the Crtl + Alt + Del step).

It seems Windows 8.1 doesn't like my old graphic card drivers like Windows 8 did. In many cases when turn on my machine it boots to desktop but it doesn't show it - it just shows my mouse cursor and pure black background. When i click the power button tho, the desktop pops up for a second then the shutting down screen appears. After few reboots i finally managed to get to the desktop and use my computer (chances are 1:5 reboots lol).

I followed some tutorials i found on the internetz , explaining how sometimes ATI and NET framework 3.5 doesn't work together - this is not the case 'cause i tried following this tutorial to uninstall , clean and reinstall the latest drivers available for my crappy videocard + NET framework. Didn't worked...

I noticed something interesting while booting to Windows. IF there will be black screen with cursor - the boot time takes 1-2 seconds, IF everything will be alright - the boot process will take about 25 seconds. (just thought i should tell you this as well)

For a few days I have been having some problems with my computer. Whenever I shutdown properly and then start again, the Desktop loads fine and after a few seconds of coming to the desktop. I see a black screen in front of me, I try to press num lock on and off to see if the system froze, it indeed froze. I disabled fastboot, after that even if I start after shutdown, it boots fine.

If I restart, it boots fine. Not sure why as my system should be fully compatible with fast boot. Here is my system specs, everything is updated as of posting:

My Windows 8 desktop PC was working fine up until yesterday when it wouldn't recognize my external dvd drive for some reason. I tried some troubleshooting steps such as deleting the upper and lower filters in the registry editor and everything was fine until I rebooted my PC.

Upon rebooting, I noticed an extremely long boot time (about 10-15 mins) which I found highly unusual but the computer worked fine until I rebooted it a 2nd time. The 2nd time after rebooting it, it was stuck at the HP loading screen so I left it on overnight to see if it would take longer to boot but to my surprise, it was still stuck at the loading screen when I woke up this morning!

Here are some specs:

OS: Pre-installed Windows 8Model: Hp Pavillion p7-1459

All drivers should be up to date because I frequently run windows update.

Yesterday night I upgraded my PC to windows 8 with an old windows 8 installation media. Everything was going fine and i also restarted it yesterday but today morning when I powered my PC it went through the Dell Splash screen but after that the screen freezes with a black screen and after 1-2 minutes It restart and again the same thing happened.

my computer has suddenly starting acting up:- I cannot enter my password due to no response via the keyboard I am using a MS Comfort 500 keyboard & mouse but this isn't the main problem as if I can open up the computer (and I can now and then) the cursor is very jerky and unresponsive, but now things have got a whole lot worse the computer is starting up in repair mode (didn't know this existed) but cannot repair itself so gives me the options of refreshing or resetting, now resetting seems a bit drastic as although I have my files on external discs and in the cloud I have never done a restore point and it seems as though a disc my have failed but as I cannot get into the computer I have no way of doing any other checks it could have been a virus that caused the problem, wish I had created restore point, if I do a reset I will loose all the programs on the c drive.

Every time I boot win 8 says my password is incorrect and I have to manually type it in order to continue booting. I Am using Classic Shell. I dont want my laptop to ask for a password. With Classic Shell installed I got rid of charms bar and now I don't know how to make my laptop stop asking for a password.

I recently put this computer together as a cheap media machine. Everything worked. It connected via onboard NIC to the internet, it had sound. No problems.

Then I upgraded by adding another stick of RAM. Same module 4gb. and all hell breaks loose.

I lost lost and internet. Media sound service couldn't start. Said something along the lines that found new hardward. And it wasn't communicating with my NIC card anymore.. I tried updated the drivers. No joy.

I contacted Biostar and asked for an issue. They recommend me to update drives and then reset bios setting to factory defaults. I tried that. No joy.

I then RMA's the vendor and got another mobo. Installed it and it had the same issue. No sound no internet.

Last nite I decided maybe I should just reinstall windows, but now my computer freezes on the bios screen.

I Have a CPU it was Windows 7 Home Premium installed , i Got windows 8 downloaded from Microsoft . I installed it without a CD . I Extracted the .iso file and Just Click Setup.exe , it was really slow so i left it at my house , when i ome Home it enters windows 8 Home Screen . I am really confused , i thinks its gonna ask me Custom or Upgrade but when I'm home it just ask me what color do you want for your theme . I Inserted the windows 7 CD and Installed on drive B: ( B is a hard disk i made with diskmngmnt.exe ) and it boots to windows 7 , i want to shut down my CPU . I turned it back On ( Restart ) and it just shows me a black screen .

Problem: On start up with either drive, the system goes to a blue screen with a clock (different time zone) on pushing Ctrl + Alt + Delete a log in prompt comes on. After logging in a window with the circling dots and Preparing Windows comes on That stays on for about 4 minutes and then a black screen comes on. Pushing the power button will cause Shutting Down to appear breifly and then the machine shuts down. I have a backup of Drive #1 on an external drive.

Toshiba laptop. My son tells me ever since he went on you tube, he has pictures coming up Like wallpaper, with a field to type in where he wants to go, like the address bar in IE.

This worked for a while, but now the computer will boot it shows - welcome Glenn and the circle is spinning, but it will not display the start page. It stays black.

BTW he is running win 8. After about 5 minutes I am able to hit alt-Ctrl- Del and I managed to bring up task manager.I found that the CPU usage is at 98%. I shutdown the windows defender module, and it dropped to 48%. After exiting task manager it still does not display the desktop.

After several tries it is now a little faster and I can get to task manager without a long wait, and the cpu usage is down to 10-20 % , but still no start page.

After the computer sits for a while it goes into standby, I know that because after I move the mouse, I will see the space needle picture. After I click on the picture, it goes back to black.

Since I cannot get to the desk top, I cannot run anything, so I don't know how to proceed.

All of a sudden, after installing some software updates, Ubuntu tells me to restart. I restart, load Ubuntu perfectly, then decide I want to use Windows to play a game. Restart, select Windows partition in Grub. The Toshiba logo comes up, as usual, but it doesn't boot into Windows. The scrolling wheel just keeps turning. I go to BIOS, and try enabling secure boot, to see if I can boot Windows like that. Same problem. Go to BIOS a second time, change the boot type to CSM instead of UEFI, to see if that will work. It comes up as a black screen "Failed to load media". I switch it back to UEFI and disable Secure Boot. Now all of a sudden, Grub doesn't come up, it just goes straight to loading Windows, but same problem. I ran Boot Repair from a live USB, didn't work.

I am able to use Ubuntu now, but only by pressing F12 and selecting it. Windows still won't boot. I made a recovery USB, and I tried to refresh my pc but it said drive was locked. I don't know what to do.

I wanted to ask a couple of things about installing Windows XP Home SP2 Upgrade (not full) on a partition (I'll get a cheap old Windows copy for the upgrade to work), with a pre-installed Windows 8 in the other partition.

1) How to do it, found how to install XP on Windows 7. Is it the same procedure?

2) I have heard that installing an XP Upgrade will wipe/reformat an entire HD, both partitions as if they were not partitioned/united. Is that true?

I have a brand new Asus laptop, bought it about 3 weeks ago. After installing some windows updates I restarted the computer and it it would not boot. Keep getting a quick error message 0xc0000001 and restarts. I have tried booting into recovery and doing automatic repair, tried bootrec's /fixboot, /fixmbr, and /rebuildbcd and and get successfully completed but still does not boot in both secure and non-secure boot. I have done a refresh, which completes successfully, but still not booting. The USERS folder in c:Windows.old does not show any users, even though when I click advanced options in recovery it asks to choose a login and enter a password. I have also checked the USERS folder at c: and :cwindows. Remember I did a refresh and not a reset so my pics should still be their. How can i recover my pics and fix the damn boot.

How do I ensure that nobody can slip in a Windows 7 or 8 disc and reinstall windows on my laptop? I have a BIOS password, but in the boot priority order it doesn't list my disc drive as an option.. Only "Windows Boot Manager"... So I'm unsure as to whether someone can just stick a disc in and reinstall windows.

Reason being is that I had my laptop stolen two months ago. I had tracking software on it (Prey), but the theif never connected to the internet, which is required for the software to work. Which leads me to assume that they just formatted (my win 7) laptop and reinstalled windows straight away. So I'm learning from my mistakes, and wanting to do it right for my new laptop.

I have a Dell Inspiron One 2330, which had Windows 8 Pre Installed, one fine day it stopped booting windows 8...

No matter, I had the recovery media... I made a full system restore... and nothing... it still does not boot.

Black screen after windows logo.

Dell Diagnostics accused no trouble whatsoever, all the tests performed successfully.

After a lot of tinkering, I managed to go back to Windows 7, the system runs fine, but I am running a trial license of Win 7, as I have not yet bought a license (I actually tried restoring the system using the Dell generated backup disks AND the Windows 8 OEM Disk, provided after those did not work).

What could be preventing Windows 8 from booting, since neither the installation fails, nor the HDD acuses any problem?

Computer specs, GeForce GTX 760 and i5-4670k CPU. MSI Z97-G45 Gaming Series motherboard. bought this from somebody with no windows installed on it. computer came with no cd's. bought a new copy of windows 8.1. i have the computer hooked up to a 720p hdtv with an hdmi cord. everytime i am hitting enter to boot from the device options it just keeps blinking but it wont boot from device. i think since i am using a tv and not a monitor it may be cutting off some other options on the screen on the bottom that i cant see? or is there something wrong with the computer. i believe the person used the computer before me for about 6 months or so and deleted what ever operating system he had on it before giving it to me. read some stuff about possible uefi bios legacy boot but not sure?

I'm a Windows 8. I'm trying to RDP from my new Windows 8 laptop to an XP desktop, both of which are on my home network. When I try, I get the below error...

Remote Desktop can't connect to the remote computer for one of these reasons:

1) Remote access to the server is not enabled2) The remote computer is turned off3) The remote computer is not available on the network

As best as I can tell, none of the conditions above is true. Here is what I have looked at so far...

- On the XP machine, in System settings / Remote, "Allow users to connect to this system" is Checked. I have successfully RDP'd to this machine in the past, but this is the first time I've tried from the Windows 8 machine.

- From the Windows 8 machine, I can ping the XP machine, and I can access a shared drive on the XP machine. In fact, I've been moving files between the XP machine and the Windows 8 machine, in both directions, all day.

- Just to eliminate another potential issue, I have set the username and password on the Windows 8 machine to match that on the XP machine.